Self-construal and feature centrality

The current research investigates the interactive influence of self-construal and product feature centrality on product judgment tasks. Feature centrality refers to the extent to which a feature is integral to the product concept and its network of correlated features, and contributes to the coherence of the product’s conceptual representation. While the categorization literature suggests that central features (versus less central features) are weighted more when consumers make judgments about a product, across two studies we find such effect is bounded by individuals’ self-construal. In particular, whereas independent consumers, adopting an analytical thinking style, rely more on central features than less central features in product categorization and evaluations, interdependent consumers, employing a holistic thinking style, use both features to form their judgments.     

Is PMI Useful in Quarterly GDP Growth Forecasts for India? An Exploratory Note

This paper examines the relationship between India’s quarterly overall GDP, manufacturing GDP and services GDP and the corresponding monthly data on overall manufacturing and services PMI for the period January 2006 to July 2014. The objective is to see if the two overall PMIs are related to the level and quarterly growth rate of overall GDP and its chosen components. Considering the quarterly time series nature of the data set, the HEGY equation of Hylleberg et al. (J Econom 44:215–238, 1990) extended by adding the PMI variables as exogenous regressors is used as the regression mode to relate a GDP level/growth rate variable to the two overall PMI variables. The results show that the three GDP level variables, but none of the GDP growth rate variables, have significant positive correlation with services PMI, but not with manufacturing PMI. Finally, the marginal effect of services PMI on manufacturing GDP level is found to be the largest, followed by that for overall GDP level and services GDP level.

     

A behavioural explanation to the asymmetric volatility phenomenon: Evidence from market volatility index

This study examines how the behavioural explanations, in particular loss aversion, can be used to explain the asymmetric volatility phenomenon by investigating the relationship between stock market returns and changes in investor perceptions of risk measured by the volatility index. We study the behaviour of India volatility index vis‐à‐vis Hong Kong, Australia and UK volatility index, and provide a comprehensive comparative analysis. Using Bai‐Perron test, we identify structural breaks and volatility regimes in the time series of volatility index, and investigate the volatility index‐return relation during high, medium and low volatility periods. Regardless of volatility regimes, we find that volatility index moves in opposite direction in response to stock index returns, and contemporaneous return is the most dominating across the four markets. The negative relation is strongest for UK followed by Australia, Hong Kong and India. Second, volatility index reacts significantly different to positive and negative returns; negative return has higher impact on changes in volatility index than positive return across the markets over full‐sample and sub‐sample periods. The asymmetric effect is stronger in low volatility regime than in high and medium volatility periods for all the markets except UK. The strength of asymmetric effect is strongest for Hong Kong and weakest for India. Finally, negative returns have exponentially increasing effect and positive returns have exponentially decreasing effect on the changes in volatility index.     

Macrorelationship between average life expectancy and prevalence of obesity: Theory and evidence from global data

A large body of literature assesses the impact of obesity on health at the microlevel and finds that obesity is a risk to health and longevity of life. We develop a macrolevel analytical framework to investigate the impact of obesity prevalence on average life expectancy, the trade-off between health expenditure and obesity prevalence, and the differential effect of obesity prevalence by gender, and apply this framework to cross country national data using a panel data of 183 countries for the years 2007 to 2014.  The empirical analysis shows that the average life expectancy is a concave function of obesity prevalence, and an increase in obesity prevalence increases average expected life expectancy with low obesity levels.  While obesity is a significant problem in developed countries, its impact on average life expectancy is partially mitigated by health expenditure. Underweight and lack of health expenditure in developing countries are even more severe problems. The marginal benefit of health expenditure in a low obesity country (highly correlated with underweight) has a larger impact on life expectancy relative to that in a high obesity country. A part of the longer life expectancy of women is related to better average nutritional state and less vulnerability to obesity. The results are consistent over three macromeasures of the longevity of life—average life expectancy, adult mortality rate, and healthy life expectancy.     

Continuous prophylaxis with recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein and conventional recombinant factor IX products: comparisons of efficacy and weekly factor consumption

Background: Continuous prophylaxis for patients with hemophilia B requires frequent injections that are burdensome and that may lead to suboptimal adherence and outcomes. Hence, therapies requiring less-frequent injections are needed. In the absence of head-to-head comparisons, this study compared the first extended-half-life-recombinant factor IX (rFIX) product—recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc)—with conventional rFIX products based on annualized bleed rates (ABRs) and factor consumption reported in studies of continuous prophylaxis.

Methods: This study compared ABRs and weekly factor consumption rates in clinical studies of continuous prophylaxis treatment with rFIXFc and conventional rFIX products (identified by systematic literature review) in previously-treated adolescents and adults with moderate-to-severe hemophilia B. Meta-analysis was used to pool ABRs reported for conventional rFIX products for comparison. Comparisons of weekly factor consumption were based on the mean, reported or estimated from the mean dose per injection.

Results: Five conventional rFIX studies (injections 1 to >3 times/week) met the criteria for comparison with once-weekly rFIXFc reported by the B-LONG study. The pooled mean ABR for conventional rFIX was slightly higher than but comparable to rFIXFc (difference=0.71; p?=?0.210). Weekly factor consumption was significantly lower with rFIXFc than in conventional rFIX studies (difference in means?=?42.8–74.5?IU/kg/week [93–161%], p?Conclusion: Comparisons of clinical study results suggest weekly injections with rFIXFc result in similar bleeding rates and significantly lower weekly factor consumption compared with more-frequently-injected conventional rFIX products. The real-world effectiveness of rFIXFc may be higher based on results from a model of the impact of simulated differences in adherence.     

Volatility–volume causality across single stock spot–futures markets in India

This study examines the causal relationships between volatility and volume across spot and futures market for the 50 constituent stocks of the CNX NIFTY Index. Granger non-causality tests implemented using vector autoregression (VAR) and asymmetric VAR models indicate the presence of significant causal relations from both the spot and futures volume to both the spot and futures volatility. Bidirectional causal relationships between spot and futures volume were observed for almost all stocks but few stocks displayed a similar relationship between volatilities. The results highlight the importance of volume in absorbing information and its behaviour as the conduit of information.     

Do adjustment costs explain investment-cash flow insensitivity?

In this paper, I explain two “puzzles” that have been observed in firm level data. First, firms that display a high sensitivity of investment to cash flow (commonly believed to be an indicator of liquidity constraints) usually have large unutilized lines of credit which, presumably, could be used to overcome the shortage of funds. Second, firms that are perceived to be extremely liquidity constrained actually show very little sensitivity of investment to cash flow.I show how a dynamic model of firm investment with liquidity constraints and non-convex costs of adjustment of capital can explain these facts. These two features together imply that firms need to have a certain threshold level of financial resources before they can afford to increase investment. Once they cross this threshold, firms’ investment will be positively correlated with their financial resources until they reach their desired level of capital stock. However, even if investment is sensitive to cash flow, firms may borrow below their credit limit to guard against future bankruptcy or binding liquidity constraints.     

Health status and disability comparisons between CATI calendar and conventional questionnaire instruments

In comparison to conventional questionnaires, calendar interviews produce higher quality retrospective reports of factual information. This study sought to examine whether calendar interviews would also be advantageous in collecting retrospective reports of subjective assessment information. Respondents in a panel study were randomly assigned to either a calendar or conventional questionnaire method; both methods asked for retrospective reports on years in which disability was present and annual health status since young childhood. Panel data served as a source of validation for the retrospective reports. Both methods tended to underreport the number of years disabled and yielded mean levels of better annual health status in comparison to the panel reports. Calendar interviews demonstrated higher quality retrospective reports for disability in yielding a significantly stronger correlation in the frequency of years being disabled and in providing a greater number of years of higher annual correspondence with the panel data in comparison to the conventional questionnaire. Calendar interviews also demonstrated the ability to preserve the slope of change associated with aging as seen in the panel data, whereas the conventional questionnaire led to a significantly shallower slope of change. This latter finding could not be explained by the presence of an acquiescence bias.     

Implications of mandatory labeling of GM food in India: Evidence from the supply side

We assess the supply-side economic implications of introducing a strict mandatory labeling policy for genetically modified (GM) food in India as proposed in 2006. We apply our analysis to the case of cottonseed oil and soybean oil, two products that would be the first affected by such regulation. We find that GM food labeling would generate adjustment and implementation costs and consumer benefits would not always be visible and would highly depend on the degree of enforcement.     

Diversification in Indian Agriculture toward High‐Value Crops: The Role of Small Farmers

Diversification by small farmers toward high‐value crops (fruits and vegetables [F & V]) that can raise farm incomes significantly has always been in question because of several reasons such as diseconomies of scale and lack of access to inputs such as capital and information. We present evidence that in India diversification toward high‐value crops exhibits a pro‐smallholder (rather than anti‐smallholder) bias. The smallholders however play a proportionally larger role in vegetables than in fruits cultivation. These patterns are consistent with simple comparative advantage‐based production choices. Even with small landholdings if labor endowments are high, such farmers diversify toward F & V. Though fruits cultivation is also labor intensive relative to cereals, it is less so relative to vegetables. Greater capital intensity implies a comparatively important role of credit in fruits. The results are robust to several tests on specification including those related to self‐selection. Chez les petits exploitants agricoles, la diversification en faveur de cultures à valeur élevée (fruits et légumes) permettant d’accroître considérablement le revenu agricole a toujours été remise en question pour diverses raisons, notamment les déséconomies d’échelle et le manque d’accès aux intrants comme le capital et l’information. Dans le présent article, nous montrons qu’en Inde, la diversification en faveur de cultures à valeur élevée semble plutôt favorable que défavorable aux petits exploitants agricoles. Toutefois, les petits exploitants sont proportionnellement plus présents dans la culture maraîchère que dans la culture fruitière. Ces observations concordent avec les choix d’une production fondée sur les avantages comparatifs. Même dans le cas des petites exploitations, lorsque les besoins de main‐d’?uvre sont élevés, elles se tournent vers les cultures fruitière et maraîchère. Bien que la culture fruitière soit une activitéà forte intensité de main‐d’?uvre comparativement à la culture céréalière, elle l’est moins que la culture maraîchère. L’intensité de capital élevée de la culture fruitière signifie que le crédit joue aussi un rôle important. Les résultats de plusieurs tests de spécification sont robustes, y compris ceux liés à l’auto‐sélection.